The Maple Leafs and Buffalo Sabres skated at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday.
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Kirill Marchenko had a glorious chance to tie Tuesday’s game in Utah in the dying seconds but a pass from William Nylander bounced over his stick.
“It’s a great pass by Willy and just a bad bounce,” the Leafs winger said. “I’m a little frustrated, but the game is finished and now we focus on another game today.”
Marchenko, who led the Blue Jackets with 27 goals last season, is stuck on one goal through seven games with the Leafs.
“I feel fine,” he said. “Not awesome, and I know I can play better for sure.”
In which ways can he be better?
“It’s a good question,” the 26-year-old Russian said with a smile. “If I start to explain to you it takes an hour. Yeah, it’s just kind of everywhere. Everywhere a little bit. It’s more about thinking [in] the game, and just everywhere.”
The Leafs paid a steep price to acquire Marchenko from Columbus on the eve of the season. They also immediately signed him to a six-year, $75-million extension ($12.5-million AAV) that kicks in next year.
“It’s been a lot for him, I would say that,” noted coach Jim Hiller. “He cares deeply about his game, about being a good teammate. I’m trying to not put too much pressure on him as he’s adjusting. He’s putting a lot of pressure on himself because he wants to do so well. I think he’s used to probably being a little bit more dangerous, so maybe that’s the pressure he’s putting on himself.”
Marchenko picked up an assist during Tuesday’s loss in Utah and is now up to six points in seven games. But three of his points, including his only goal, have come on the power play and Marchenko is minus-one despite starting every game on the top line beside Auston Matthews.
“We just want him to be a good all-around player,” Hiller stressed. “We know his skill. He’s going to score. He’s going to create chances. We just want to get him comfortable and feeling like he understands the systems and then he can just go out and play.”
Marchenko will play his 300th career game on Thursday.
“I don’t know about that actually,” he said with a grin. “It’s nice ... you ask like, ‘How’s your career going?’ It’s a good career, but I hope it will be better and I can be better for sure. It’s what I can say right now. I don’t think about 300 games just think about my game, about team game, and about Buffalo today.”
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Marchenko was bumped to the second line at the morning skate slotting in beside John Tavares and Nick Paul.
Nylander moved up to the top line beside Matthews and Jack Roslovic. The third line featured Colton Sissons between Gavin McKenna and Easton Cowan.
“We didn’t like our game,” Hiller explained of the shuffle. “Didn’t like our game versus Utah. Despite the outcome, I guess you could say we were close, but didn’t like the quality of the game.”
The Leafs allowed five goals, all off the rush, in their first game without injured defenceman Chris Tanev.
“What I was disappointed about a little bit on the trip is I thought we have hung our defenceman out to dry just a little bit as a group of forwards with some turnovers, with some tracking,” Hiller said. “I think prior to going out, I thought we really were supporting our defence, getting back hard, not giving up odd-man rushes. And then, you know, that was a little bit of the opposite on that road trip. So you got to help your defence. I don’t care who’s in. And so that, to me, is a little bit more on our forwards.”
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Matthews and Nylander are tied for the team lead with 12 points. Now they are set to start a game together for the first time this season.
“They’ve been really dangerous,” said Hiller, who served as an assistant coach in Toronto during the first three seasons of Matthews’ career. “I’ve had a long history with them playing together when I was here during my time. I know they haven’t spent that much time together, [but] we always know we can put them together. Sometimes they’ll play apart. But I just think they have good chemistry. Clearly two really good offensive players, and both off to really good starts on top of it.”
Nylander has assisted on three of Matthews’ five goals this season while Matthews has assisted on three of Nylander’s five goals.
“I feel like we’ve been able to find each other,” Matthews said. “I feel like we’re competing hard and, yeah, it just seems to be flowing pretty well right now. So, obviously having that opportunity of playing together, you want to keep that going and continue to try to lead the way and make things happen on both sides of the puck.”
Matthews spent the off-season focused on getting leaner and lighter. That work now appears to be paying off.
“Yeah, it feels good,” the 29-year-old centre said. “I think that’s just, personally, something I wanted to do this summer with having that long runway. I’ve done it before, just coming in a little bit lighter, trying to be a little bit leaner. It’s been good so far. Just want to continue to feel good, continue to stay healthy and each and every night just trying to bring it, be consistent, help the team win games.”
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McKenna, 18, and Cowan, 21, are former teammates with Canada at the World Juniors and have struck up a fast friendship off the ice in Toronto. The pair have played together on the second power-play unit and now are set to get a look together at 5-on-5.
“Obviously two young guys, so I think tonight we’re just going to try to work hard and be simple,” McKenna said. “You know, being young guys, you don’t want to make too many mistakes. So, I think if we’re getting the puck in and just being simple throughout the game, I think those plays will happen and they’ll come. He’s a great hockey player and I have a lot of fun with him off the ice, so looking forward to getting to play with him.”
McKenna hit the scoresheet in all three games during Toronto’s challenging road trip through Vegas, Colorado and Utah. His point streak is up to four games overall.
“He continues to get better each and every night and we don’t expect that to stop,” said Matthews.
McKenna drew inspiration from facing Nathan MacKinnon for the first time on Saturday.
“Very explosive player and, yeah, watching him on from bench, it’s pretty crazy to see what he does and how fast he is,” McKenna observed. “And, you know, just the way he kind of controls the game in a way, pretty crazy to watch and definitely a big motivator for me to hopefully be there one day.”
MacKinnon scored twice and was flying all over the ice early on Saturday. McKenna also showed off his wheels by speeding back to deny a Josh Manson shorthanded chance and setting in motion a sequence that led to a Matthews goal.
“It was in the third period, so every little detail matters,” the 2026 first-overall pick said. “Just a tough bounce and they kind of had a bit of a 2-on-1 there. I think I was last guy back and wanted to get there. I saw I could get the stick check before he shot the puck and, yeah, got it, and then tried to flip it up ice as quick as I could because we were on the power play. Obviously Willy made an unbelievable play to get a pass in there, and then Auston’s not going to miss that shot too often.”
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The Leafs announced that Tanev is considered “week-to-week” with an upper-body injury sustained on Saturday.
Considering the importance of the 36-year-old to the team, there’s been plenty of talk in Toronto about whether general manager John Chayka should acquire another blueliner to help fill the void.
What’s Hiller think?
“Not my job, first of all,” the coach said. “And I think there’s always a lot of noise about something, so I’m not going to pay too much attention to it right now.”
Hiller has dressed seven defencemen in the last two games, but appears likely to go back to the traditional look on Thursday.
“I’m comfortable, for sure,” Hiller said of the team’s defence core. “I mean, Tanny’s a good player. That’s well-established. But we have other good players. We just have to help them out a little bit.”
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The Sabres are also missing a key defenceman as Rasmus Dahlin will sit out a second straight game on Thursday. Coach Lindy Ruff says Buffalo’s captain is “50-50” to return on Saturday in Montreal.
“There’s a lot of minutes that have to be filled with him being gone,” said defenceman Owen Power. “Just try and step up and do my best to fill those minutes and fill that hole.”
Power logged 28 minutes and 22 seconds to lead the team during Tuesday’s shootout loss to the Canadiens.
“I like it,” Power said. “You’re going out every other shift basically. It’s fun. Obviously it’s tiring, but in the moment it’s nice to be able to know you’re going out right again.”
Power is averaging 26:26 of ice time per game, which is sixth in the league. He’s posted seven points in seven games and is plus-three on the season.
“Just playing a faster game, a more physical game, skating well [and] for the most part has broke the puck out really well, [good] decisions,” Ruff said. “He’s been good in a lot of areas of the game.”
“He’s an incredible player,” said Sabres winger Josh Doan. “The easiest way to say it is there’s a reason he went first overall [in 2021]. You’re starting to see that as a league now.”
The Leafs are looking to win their first divisional game after losing at home to the Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens.
“They’re important,” Matthews said of these Atlantic clashes. “Super important no matter what time of year it is, honestly, because once you get to March, February, April, like, you look back and these games mean a lot and they matter. So, we want to make sure, coming back on home ice, we’re ready to go tonight.”
Hiller held a brief morning skate to get the players going again following the flight back from Salt Lake City on Wednesday.
The Sabres also held a full skate after enjoying a day off in Toronto on Wednesday. Buffalo will be playing for the third time in four nights.
The Leafs and Sabres are tied for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with identical 3-3-1 records.
“Every game’s important, but especially with how good our division is, and how tight it’s been and going to continue to be, these games are huge,” Power said. “There’s probably a little bit more of an emphasis on these division games.”
The Sabres, who finished first in the Atlantic last year, are 1-0-1 in the division so far.
“That’s something you gotta emphasize early in the year is how important these games are going to be,” Doan stressed. “Come game 75 you’re going to want these ones to be wins. Even though it’s early in the year these are huge games for us, huge games for them as well. It’s going to be a tight race all season long.”
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Gritty winger Zack MacEwen did not stay out late with the projected scratches and may draw into the Leafs lineup for the first time since opening night.
“Well, it had been a while for Mac, and you never like to hold out anybody for too long, especially at the start of the season,” Hiller said. “We just want energy. You know, that fourth line should be energy. There should be some physicality to it. They should grind in the O-zone, keep people, you know, out of our end. And, you know, again, whether it’s 11-7 or the full four lines, whoever’s on that line with Teddy [Blueger] and [Brandon Duhaime], that’s the job.”
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Lines at Leafs morning skate on Thursday:
Nylander - Matthews - Roslovic
Paul - Tavares - Marchenko
McKenna - Sissons - Cowan
Duhaime - Blueger - MacEwen
Groulx
McCabe - Raddysh
Rielly - Stecher
Ekman-Larsson - Blankenburg
Rifai
Bobrovsky starts
Stolarz
Lines at Sabres morning skate on Thursday:
Krebs - Thompson - Doan
Benson - Ostlund - Quinn
Kulich - McLeod - Helenius
Malenstyn - Norris - Danforth
Zellweger - Samuelsson
Power - Metsa
Gilbert - Crevier
Luukkonen starts